It has been a while since I have been here... For those who do not know me, I was member 50 of Seattle X1/9, I have owned a couple 77s, a 78, a 76 highly modified, an 81, and for a short time a Scorpion.
As many of you may remember, I sold my 76 (formerly Warren's in Canada) to move to Alaska. I planned on spending a year there refocusing my life. I am a photographer, photojournalist to be specific, and in Seattle I was a small fish in a big pond. I moved to Alaska, planning on spending a year with my mom who was in her early 80s and had suffered a TIA and a heart attack in the previous five years. Less then a week later mom was diagnosed with heart failure and my year in Alaska which started in 2003, would end up changing my life. Four years later mom had heart surgery, and signs of dementia started. After years of taking care of her, shooting high school sports, college sports, semi-pro sports, Iditarod, and senior photos, family situations ended up moving us to Denver, Colorado. I was able to buy my 81 and ship it to Alaska, and I brought it to Colorado, but had to sell it.
Once in Colorado, I immediately started shooting. My first assignment was coverage of the Dark Knight theater shooting. I shot everything I could and was making a name for myself. I was a semi-big fish in a large pond, but then moms dementia started to get worse. Worse to the point, I could no longer leave her alone. So, I started working from home. That has been my last three years, up until this past Father's Day.
On the morning of Father's Day, I woke mom up and got her out of bed (she could walk with a walker, but standing up was impossible on her own. She has no cartilage in her knees.) and we head out to the living room. Normally, she parks her walker about 2 steps from her chair and sits right down. I walked around the corner into the kitchen to get her breakfast and she fell down. I was immediately on top of her, checking her out. She appeared fine, no pain, no signs of any injuries. I got her up and she walked to her chair and sat down and ate all of her breakfast. I sit a couple feet away from her working on my computer and when it was time for lunch, I fixed her food and asked her if she wanted to feed herself. Breakfast she normally fed herself, but lunch, sometimes I had to feed her, and dinner, always...She said she would feed herself, took two bites and was done. I tried to get her to take another bite and she passed out. I got her to wake up and told her we were going to the hospital. I picked her up to carry her to my car, but she passed out again. So I called 911 and had an ambulance come get her. She had broken her pelvis, had a UTI, and her kidneys stopped working right. Over a week they got everything stabilized, except her kidney function and sent her home under home hospice.
She is now in a hospital bed in the living room with me sleeping next to her on the couch. I am not giving up on her that she will pull through, but my family is negative and just wants her to die. They do not see her laugh, smile, tell me stories, or anything, they just see her worn out after a CNA or nurse comes in, or after I change her, and think that she is done. So I am fighting for both me and mom. If she dies, I do not know what I will do. I will have to sell the condo we live in, because under the mortgage, she has to be the primary resident, and I do not make enough to take on the mortgage. I ask you all for prayers and good thoughts. My fiancé is in North Carolina and we are trying to rush getting her out her with her family to spend time with mom and so we can get married before she dies so she can see that everything will be ok...but it is not looking good....we need prayers and a few miracles here....I hope all are doing much better than I am right now.
Carl
As many of you may remember, I sold my 76 (formerly Warren's in Canada) to move to Alaska. I planned on spending a year there refocusing my life. I am a photographer, photojournalist to be specific, and in Seattle I was a small fish in a big pond. I moved to Alaska, planning on spending a year with my mom who was in her early 80s and had suffered a TIA and a heart attack in the previous five years. Less then a week later mom was diagnosed with heart failure and my year in Alaska which started in 2003, would end up changing my life. Four years later mom had heart surgery, and signs of dementia started. After years of taking care of her, shooting high school sports, college sports, semi-pro sports, Iditarod, and senior photos, family situations ended up moving us to Denver, Colorado. I was able to buy my 81 and ship it to Alaska, and I brought it to Colorado, but had to sell it.
Once in Colorado, I immediately started shooting. My first assignment was coverage of the Dark Knight theater shooting. I shot everything I could and was making a name for myself. I was a semi-big fish in a large pond, but then moms dementia started to get worse. Worse to the point, I could no longer leave her alone. So, I started working from home. That has been my last three years, up until this past Father's Day.
On the morning of Father's Day, I woke mom up and got her out of bed (she could walk with a walker, but standing up was impossible on her own. She has no cartilage in her knees.) and we head out to the living room. Normally, she parks her walker about 2 steps from her chair and sits right down. I walked around the corner into the kitchen to get her breakfast and she fell down. I was immediately on top of her, checking her out. She appeared fine, no pain, no signs of any injuries. I got her up and she walked to her chair and sat down and ate all of her breakfast. I sit a couple feet away from her working on my computer and when it was time for lunch, I fixed her food and asked her if she wanted to feed herself. Breakfast she normally fed herself, but lunch, sometimes I had to feed her, and dinner, always...She said she would feed herself, took two bites and was done. I tried to get her to take another bite and she passed out. I got her to wake up and told her we were going to the hospital. I picked her up to carry her to my car, but she passed out again. So I called 911 and had an ambulance come get her. She had broken her pelvis, had a UTI, and her kidneys stopped working right. Over a week they got everything stabilized, except her kidney function and sent her home under home hospice.
She is now in a hospital bed in the living room with me sleeping next to her on the couch. I am not giving up on her that she will pull through, but my family is negative and just wants her to die. They do not see her laugh, smile, tell me stories, or anything, they just see her worn out after a CNA or nurse comes in, or after I change her, and think that she is done. So I am fighting for both me and mom. If she dies, I do not know what I will do. I will have to sell the condo we live in, because under the mortgage, she has to be the primary resident, and I do not make enough to take on the mortgage. I ask you all for prayers and good thoughts. My fiancé is in North Carolina and we are trying to rush getting her out her with her family to spend time with mom and so we can get married before she dies so she can see that everything will be ok...but it is not looking good....we need prayers and a few miracles here....I hope all are doing much better than I am right now.
Carl
